Brax has figured out one of his steps to become stronger, but now he needs to divert his attention to the most important one of them all. His Qi breathing technique.
After reading and analyzing all those breathing manuals, he concludes that the more Qi a body can absorb in the shortest amount of time, the better the technique is. But it is not just that. Other than the Qi breathing technique itself, talent also seems to play a very important factor when it comes to absorbing Qi.
As Brax compared every Qi breathing technique, he realized that every single one of them is a little different. The main concept of any breathing technique is to breathe in Qi through one's nose and guide it through the veins inside the body.
Every Qi breathing manual has a distinct diagram of which veins to guide the Qi to. For example, his own Qi breathing technique, the silver strand breathing technique. It says to breathe in the Qi and guide the Qi to his heart and then to his brain and continue doing it, forming a cycle of some sort.
But why? Why only the heart and the brain, why not the other parts? This is why Brax wanted to check out other manuals as it didn't make sense to him.
After going through all those manuals, he realized that the people of his world had no clue about how all the veins and arteries in their bodies worked. They knew that they existed, as it is the main factor in determining one's talent.
The thicker the veins someone has, the better their talent is, as it allows them to circulate more Qi energy inside them.
They see the veins in their body as just tubes or pipes, something you can use to direct the Qi energy willy-nilly. And because of that, there are so many Qi breathing techniques. These cultivators who created these breathing techniques just pushed Qi energy across their complex vein structure blindly and tried to find the best way to channel Qi, leading to what Qi breathing techniques have become today.
Of course, by doing this, many cultivators also died, as Qi was not supposed to flow in that certain direction. It is also one of the main reasons why cultivators face blockage. It is not that these cultivators are suddenly experiencing a roadblock, but their veins literally screaming at them to not do it. It's the wrong way.
But they brute force their way through it anyway, and since they have been cultivating for so long, the Qi energy has strengthened their veins making it so that they are not damaged in the process, causing them very little to no backlash. But it severely limits their strength, as the Qi is not flowing in the right path.
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It is also the reason why some cultivators die young in their Qi condensing stage when they try to breakthrough by bulldozing through their blockage, but their veins are not strong enough or very thin because of their lack of talent. So when they do it, they rupture their vein causing all the Qi they have stored inside them to leak out and inflate them from the inside and pop them like a balloon.
Brax almost has a mental breakdown as he figures out why this world is the way it is. No one questioned the past cultivators because there was a result and copying it would make them stronger and they stuck with it.
Of course, as time passed, more cultivators started dwelling deeper into cultivation and when they encountered a blockage, they thought that breaking through it would make them stronger. And it did. It did make them stronger because Qi energy is just that magical. But many also died in the process because of it.
There is no difference between the structure of the veins and arteries in this world compared to his previous one, so as a man who was deep into human biology, he understands the blood vessels better than anyone. They sustain life by carrying oxygen throughout the body, so it also makes sense that they play such an important role in this world as well. They are the carriers of Qi energy.
But before Brax dives into creating his own breathing technique, he needs to understand Qi energy first, and the simplest way to do it is by cultivation.
Since he is still a newbie cultivator, he has not reached the supposed blockage yet, so he gives his Qi breathing technique, the Silver Strand breathing technique, a try. Not to cultivate, but to analyze.
He closes his eyes and folds his legs, putting his feet over the other, implementing the lotus position, as it is called.
He takes in a deep breath and intakes the Qi energy in the air. As soon as this Qi energy enters his body, he feels a connection to it. He takes control of this Qi energy and starts moving it through the same veins and arteries that the previous Brax used when cultivating. As he did, he felt refreshed, as the Qi energy had a magical effect on one's body.
After doing it a few more times, he stopped. He is now fascinated by this Qi energy. He started to question its origin. "I will figure it out once I am strong enough," he said to himself, and started experimenting with it.
He felt the Qi energy stored in his heart as it was the result of a year of cultivation by the previous Brax.
The very first stage is called the Qi condensing realm, and it's all about accumulating Qi in the heart and condensing it to become stronger.
Fascinated by the energy stored inside him, he focuses on it and starts moving it around his body, and brings it towards his hand. He sees his hand glow lightly from the Qi energy accumulating in his hand.
He also realizes that he can control this Qi energy way better than the previous Brax and it seems to be related to his mind and soul. His sharp and intelligent mind allows him to connect with this Qi energy without any effort, making it very easy.
"This thing is beyond my expectation," Brax says and starts laughing out loud like a maniac.
Brax then spends the whole day playing around with the Qi energy, trying to figure out what else he could do with it.